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Life After Death/Issue 16
"Alright, someone go fetch me a stick from the store," Walden said. "I'm going to need that to cauterize the wound." "Wait, you're going to burn his arm?" Brie asked. "It's the only way to stop the bleeding." "It'll be fine, Brie," Bill said. "I got it," Andre said as he ran inside the convenience store, and grabbed a wooden stick that was leaning agains the wall by the front door. He took it outside and placed the end in the fire. "Alright, three, two, one...go." Walden slammed the hatchet into Bill's upper arm, causing him to scream in pain. He pulled it out and hit his arm again. Bill looked down and saw the cut that was halfway through his arm. Walden slashed him again, causing Bill to pass out from the pain. "Is he going to be okay?" Brie asked in a panic. "Please, is he going to be-" "He just passed out, if we do this quickly, he should make it." Walden sliced Bill's arm one last time, cutting all the way through. Andre walked over and handed him the burning stick as Walden pulled Bill's amputated arm away. He placed the end of the stick up against Bill's arm, and moved it around. Walden pulled his shirt over his nose as the rest of the group started coughing and backing away. "Fuck, that smells like shit," Dolph remarked. Once the cauterization was done, Walden, Dolph, and Brie took Bill across the street to a slightly ripped tent. They layed him down on the sleeping bag and returned to the group. "He'll be out of it for a while, but he should be fine," Walden said. "Thank you," Brie said with a smile. "It's my pleasure, really. It feels good to help people out again. Hell, it feels good just seeing living faces again." The three walked off as Gregory approached Walden. "We really appreciate all that you've done for us," he informed him. "Even if the others don't show it...we've all been through a lot the past couple of days." "I get it, it's hard to be greatful in a world full of living corpses walking around." "You could say that again. Well, again, thanks for all you've done." Gregory smiled and returned to the fire. Walden started walking back to the fire when he was intercepted by Dolph. "Hey, Walden," he said. "Hello, uh, I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name," Walden responded, slightly embarrassed. "Dolph. I have a question for you...it's kind of, uh, a touchy subject." "What's on your mind, son?" "Was there anyone here named Zoe?" "Zoe...Zoe...the name does ring a bell. You know, I think there might have been someone here named Zoe. Why?" Dolph backed up and started freaking out. He bent over, placed his hands on his knees, and started breathing quickly. "Zoe...was my sister..." "Oh...I'm so sorry." "We got split up a while back...we were heading here...figured that was where she went." "Will you be alright?" "No...I think I need to just sit down and relax...to be honest, I kind of saw this coming, so it didn't hit me as hard as it could have..." "If you need anything, just tell me." Dolph went and sat beside the convenience store, leaning against it, as he stared up at the stars. Walden sat down by the fire with the rest of the group. They sat there in silence for a while, until Devon got up and started walking off. "Where are you going?" Emily asked him. "To take a piss," he replied, and walked around the store. "That boy needs you," Gregory said out of the blue. "What?" "He's in a tough spot now...after all he's been through the past few days...losing his sister, being thrown into a group of people he doesn't know, getting tortured by a madman...He's grown a liking to you, he seems to consider you a friend...the only friend he has now. You need to keep him safe, keep him strong." Emily turned and stared into the fire, pondering Gregory's words. She remembered what had happened to her boyfriend when the apocalypse started. The two had been raiding a store, and her boyfriend was going to grab something from a shelf. She remembered seeing the undead freak come around the corner. She remembered seeing it rip a chunk out of his neck. She shot it in the head...but it had been too late. She was unsure of whether she would be able to protect Devon, or if he would end up the same. Devon returned and sat down by the fire as the group returned to silence. ---- "Alright, you should probably all get some sleep," Walden said. "You've been on the road for half a day with no sleep, you must be exhausted." "Yeah, I think I'm gonna hit the hay," Eric said. "Do you have somewhere for us to sleep?" "There's an empty building beside the store, we'd just need to grab some sleeping bags out of the tents, and then it would be set." "I'll help," Drake offered. "I will, too," Morgan said, walking up beside Drake. The group went around to all the tents that were scattered around and grabbed the sleeping bags, and then took them to the building. Devon was walking toward it, when Emily came up behind him. "Devon," she quietly said. Devon kept walking and ignored her. "Devon." He stopped and turned around. "What?" "Are you...feeling okay?" "I'm fine." "Are you sure?" Devon stood there silently for a moment. "I saw Leslie...while I was in that room, after Alvin broke my fingers...I had a vision of her. She was sitting there, desperately trying to get me up. It hurt...seeing her face." "I know how you feel..." "What do you mean?" "I thought about my old boyfriend recently...thought about him dying..." "This world...it's so fucked. Nothing will ever be the same again. We can keep trying to build civilization...but it wont work." "You shouldn't think like that." "It's the truth, though. There's no laws, no cops, nobody to tell you what to do. There are so many groups of bandits and thieves out there...even if we tried to build something, it would be torn to the ground. It happened to Harter, and it almost happened with us and Alvin." "I think you're wrong. I still have hope that somewhere out there, there's an actual safe haven...better than what Harter was. You can't give up now. It could be out there." "I'll believe it when I see it...anyway, goodnight." Devon walked inside the building, leaving Emily outside, saddened by what she heard. Credits * * * * * * * * * * Deaths *None